My name is Brother Michele Montemurri O.H., and this is a brief account of how my vocation arose and how I discovered St John of God in my life…

My quest in life has been a journey of self-discovery. Fromm said that our main task in life is to shed light “on oneself”; life is a continuous discovery of self and from our birth, we are invited to dialogue with God, and God has called us to life, and at the same time to communion with Him.

In one of the many school camps I attended with my other friends from Catholic Action in my parish, I had to talk about my vocation and my search for it. After several discernment sessions with my spiritual director (a Benedictine monk) I embarked on a more radical pathway to discover God in my life. One day, a Brother gave me a biography of Saint Richard Pampuri and then one on St John of God. The first enlightened me as a physician and subsequently as a Brother, while the latter (on Saint John of God) revealed his adventure in search of himself… and his powerful experience of serving others (the needy…).

This is where my journey as a Brother of St John of God began, taking part in various areas of service at Genzano di Roma. I embarked on my formation after many years as a man consecrated to God at the service of my needy brothers in every respect (holistic care). The great gift of the Charism of “Hospitality” which John of God received, covers a vast area of theology, philosophy, sociology and health care…

I am convinced that, as consecrated men – but first and foremost as creatures of God, as people who have been called – our testimony has to be passed on to young people to help them to discover “themselves”. In that way they can see that they have been called to give, because life itself is “a gift freely received”, and hence a gift generated in response to the gift received, by each one according to the plan that God has written for all of us. Areas of service and experience exert a powerful attraction for young people to broaden their horizons, opening them up to discover an unknown world… St John of God’s experience in the mental asylum was the starting point for his discovery of an unknown world, in which he eventually discovered his vocation.